Creative Ideas at the Creative Lab

Yesterday, I dropped by the Canon Creative Lab in Mississauga where they were hosting Image Wonderland. This was an event showcasing Canon gear (of course), along with a number of sets with models and high end props (including a vintage Cadillac) where you could try out the gear. I’ve never been to one of these, and honestly did not know what to expect.

I’ve been a Canon fan-girl forever, and we were also encouraged to bring our own cameras and shoot away. Images could also be printed through the onsite Canon Print Shop for free, although this was confined to 4×6 prints for walk-ins, and 11×17 prints if you submitted them ahead of time. And there was a series of talks given by Canon Ambassadors, including Irene Rudnyk, Sal Balaji and Steve Russell.

What did I see and experience at the event? Read on…

The first thing I noticed when I walked inside was the crowd. Many more folks than I expected, but more remarkable, few if any looked like me. I’ve gotten used to seeing a reflection of the weight of life’s experiences in the faces of my friends, and this was definitely not that. Less than 2%, per my robust calculations, were over 30. Some were, and we took notice of each other silently and smiled as we passed each other. So this would be very different for me.

I wandered through the displays and noticed which ones seemed to get the most interest. Live models, dressed in artistically interesting clothing, posing in artistically interesting settings were all the draw. I jumped in and took some shots myself, and even had a chance to pose one of the models. Many of us don’t have access to these types of resources, so it was easy to see why they were popular.

I had fun with those displays and also had a chance to watch pro portrait photographers pose and describe their approach to portraits. Here are a couple of my shots from the event:

Also of huge interest was the gear loan desk. You could borrow a Canon mirrorless digital camera while at the event and shoot away. I had my R5 with me, and really hoped I could try out an R1. But interestingly, all of the loaners were from the R7 line or higher. That told me a couple of things: maybe trusting a young person with high end gear is not a good idea OR a young person has no interest in that high end brick and wants a small, light, portable, easy to use content machine that is a nice transition from a cellphone.

I continued on and found myself at the Canon Print Shop desk, where there was line-up waiting to take advantage of the free print on offer. There was an interesting moment here too. There were two lines: one for printing from an SD card, containing images shot elsewhere or onsite, and one for printing from a mobile phone. The mobile phone line was about 20 people and had a steady draw. The SD card line had one person – me. Both lines led to a quick print option that produced a 4×6 print, demonstrating Canon’s small portable printers for that purpose. I passed.

I turned the corner and came upon the print gallery, where creators who had submitted their images ahead of time had received a printed and framed 11×17 print. These were put on display during the show and a few creators were also photographed and interviewed with their print for advertising purposes. These were not high end prints or framing – I would label them as Walmart quality. I wandered the aisles of prints and began to notice a pattern.

Almost every print on display was a documentary shot of a moment in time – nicely composed in many cases (some not) but there were few if any pre-planned artistic creations either taken in-studio or post-processed. They were almost all the same grab-the-moment snapshots you typically do collect with your cellphone. Very different than what I would typically see in a gallery or in a camera club show. Of the nearly 200 (estimate) on display, perhaps 1% could be labelled as artistic rather than documentary (IMHO). You might think this sounds elitist but it’s really just an observation – photography seems to mean something different to young people than it does to me.

Next it was over to the presentation centre, where I could attend some of the talks. I arrived just at the start of the talk by Steve Russell, a Toronto Star photographer who was speaking about how photography helps him cope with the pressures of work and family – even with the realization that for him, photography is his work. He talked about disconnecting from life’s demands when he is behind the camera and immersing himself in that experience. He can literally forget about everything else. I completely agree and have the same reaction with camera in-hand. But for me, the environment is part of that ability to disconnect – a noisy, busy, hectic city street would be no less annoying just because of the camera. But a woodland punctuated by the songs of warblers does it every time.

A young attendee asked him about how he uses and copes with social media. The attendee asked how Steve deals with the vile comments that can come from people in response to a simple photograph. How does he avoid getting sucked-in and depressed? Steve acknowledged the problem and said he simply comments back that feedback and reaction are always welcomed, but crap is not. I find that sad on so many levels.

Irene Rudnyk talked about easy ways to pose people for portraits. Portrait work can get you into the weeds, worrying about every hand gesture and head tilt. Irene offered some simple tips, one of which I really liked, which was to never pose anyone standing. You have so many options when people sit, lean, bend, kneel, etc. that often lead to more interesting, engaging shots. But interestingly, the theme of this talk too was about relieving the pressure of the moment when working with clients. And some of the questions she got were about working with overly demanding clients. I find that sad too.

Surprisingly, this event did not have gear for sale but attendees do receive a discount code for the online store. In terms of tying this event to a product showcase and sales, I think Canon did ok. All manufacturers have to find a way to build a connection between themselves and young creators who want less complexity in their creative process, not more. Maybe that means the age of more and more megapixels is over. This did teach me that the interests, experiences and life situations of young creators are far different from mine. I am glad I attended.